ISAIAH 35: EXPOSITION and BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

by

Dr. Robert Asher

1

Introduction

Students often ignore Isaiah 35, but it is important for

understanding pre-millennial theology. The chapter bridges
between the Tribulation Period and the Millennial Kingdom. It
speaks vividly of the conditions that will exist at the beginning of
the Millennium. The text reveals that God reverses the curse upon
mankind and nature, renewing both nature and men. All nature will
see the visible glory of the Lord in the Arabah

2

as He walks upon

the earth after removing the curse from nature.

Israel will experience divine encouragement when she flees

into the wilderness to escape the Tribulation and the outpoured
vengeance of God upon the earth. Isaiah 35 presents the promise of
the salvation of Israel. The redeemed of the Lord, all Israel, will
have everlasting joy, unlike the rebels purged in Ezekiel 20:33–38.
The people will journey to Zion from the wilderness (Ezekiel
20:35) along the Highway of Holiness. Christ will lead His now
holy worshipers as they ascend to Jerusalem with everlasting joy
and joyful shouting.

Exegesis will develop biblical theology, emphasizing

reversal of the curse. The theology will include the sovereignty of
God over all nature and all mankind. The national salvation of
Israel will reverse the spiritual judgment placed upon her (Isaiah
6:9–10). The reversal of blindness and deafness in 6:5 speaks of

1

Bob Asher went to be at home with the Lord while the article was being edited.

This article stands as a tribute to the exegetical insights with which God blessed
him. We count it a privilege to publish it and again wish to express our heart-felt
condolences to Linn Asher, Bob’s wife.

2

The Arabah is the Great Rift Valley. Israel’s portion of this extends through the

Jordan Valley and Dead Sea to the Red Sea. The Arabah Proper is the region
south of the Dead Sea.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 3

overturning the spiritual judgment. It also involves physical
healing, because the curse has been partially reversed. This is
evident from New Testament verses in which Christ not only dealt
with physical healing but also spiritual healing. Those who called
out to Christ showed their faith in the Messiah. He then healed
them physically. This signaled what would take place if Israel had
accepted the Kingdom offer during the ministry of Christ.

The renewal of the water in the desert is important. Not only

will this renewal cause the desert to blossom, but it will also
supply the millennial world with sufficient water.

The Highway of Holiness is the way by which saved and now

holy Israel will come into Zion. The desert sees the glory and
majesty of God as Christ leads His people to Zion through the
desert along the Highway of Holiness. Although He had been
judging His people, He will personally lead the holy remnant into
Jerusalem. Thus, this chapter is important in understanding
premillennial theology.

Renewal of Nature

The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will
rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus It will blossom profusely And
rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will
be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see
the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God

(

Isaiah 35:1–2).

3

Verses one and two speak of a future transformation of the

wilderness and the desert (i.e., the Arabah of Southern Israel) from
a barren area to one full of blossoming plants. It will change from
a place with little or no life-giving vegetation to one of
fruitfulness. At present, it manifests the effects of the Genesis
3:17–19 curse in all its nastiness. But in the future, it will become
a land that is as fruitful and enjoyable as the Garden of Eden was

3

Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963,

1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used
by permission.

4 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

to Adam and Eve. Emphatic language indicates the Arabah
overabundantly coming to life from a state of near death. Poetic
language personifies nature’s restoration from a divine curse to the
full blessing of God. This chapter contrasts with prophesies of
grave judgment upon Edom in Isaiah 34.

The first verse depicts the happiness of nature due to its

renewal. The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the
Arabah will rejoice and blossom (Isaiah 35:1).

Isaiah uses the word wilderness to describe three different

types of land, including pastureland, uninhabited land, and other
land where oases and towns are sparingly found.

4

It may describe

pastureland between two villages as well as a particular desert.

5

The word desert is more restrictive than wilderness as it denotes
“dryness, drought;”

6

or “a dry landscape, dry region.”

7

All desert is

wilderness, but not all wilderness is desert. The Arabah consists of
three distinct areas: the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea region, and
the region extending to the Gulf of Aqabah.

8

It contains both

wilderness and desert.

The two nouns in the first line of verse one describe the

Arabah (line two) through synonymous parallelism. Gladness and
rejoicing personify the response of nature to the miraculous
changes overcoming it. The Arabah will change from a region of

4

Cf. Earl S. Kalland, “m]dB~r,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

[TWOT], 2 vols., ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K.
Waltke (Chicago: Moody, 1980), 1:181; and Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and
Charles A. Briggs “m]dB~r,” Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon,
1907), 184–85.

5

Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, “m]dB~r,” The Hebrew & Aramaic

Lexicon of the Old Testament [KB], 5 vols., trans. M. E. J. Richardson (Leiden,
Netherlands: Brill, 1994), 2:546–47.

6

BDB, “x'yon,” 851.

7

Cf. “x'yon,” in KB, 3:1021–22.

8

R. K. Harrison, “Arabah,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

[ISBE], rev. ed., 4 vols., ed. Geofferey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1982), 1:218–20.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 5

wilderness and desert, where little life thrives, to a region that
sustains limitless life and bears fruit abundantly.

Isaiah 35:1b–2a uses emphatic language to express the

happiness of nature because of the new state in which she finds
herself: Like the crocus, It will blossom profusely and rejoice with
rejoicing and shout of joy.

These lines emphasize both the tremendous blossoming the

Arabah will experience and the figurative joy that the transformed
nature will experience. Blossom means “to sprout, bud, break out,
blossom.”

9

The Hebrew construction is intensive: the Arabah will

blossom overabundantly. It will rejoice with a vigorous,
enthusiastic expression of delight

10

at the working of God’s

creative hand.

11

A shout of joy (r`nn@n) further intensifies this

overabundant joy over God’s saving acts.

12

Delivering her from

the curse is clearly one of God’s saving acts upon nature.

In addition to her new fruitfulness, the Arabah will exhibit

unspeakable beauty, rather than barrenness, death, and repulsion:
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

13

the majesty of Carmel

and Sharon (Isaiah 35:1b, 2a).

In Isaiah 33:9 an enemy devastates Lebanon, Sharon, and

Carmel. In contrast, the passage ascribes to the Arabah the beauty,
glory, and majesty of these three beautiful areas. Lebanon’s
splendor is her beautiful timber and vegetation; Sharon is known
for her fertile plain and beauty; and Carmel is known as the garden
with fruit trees.

14

These areas exemplify the miraculous future

9

Cf. “Prh,” in KB, 3:965–66; Victor P. Hamilton, “Prh,” in TWOT, 2:734.

10

Jack P. Lewis, “G'l,” in TWOT, 1:159.

11

Michael A. Grisanti, “G'l,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament

Theology & Exegesis [NIDOTTE], 5 vols., ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 1:854–57.

12

Cf. William White, “rnn,” in TWOT, 2:851; Tremper Longman, III, “rnn,” in

NIDOTTE, 3:1128–32.

13

The preposition l`h having the personal pronoun with a feminine singular

suffix refers to the antecedent, Arabah.

14

W. Ewing, “Carmel,” in ISBE, 1:618.

6 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

transformation of the Arabah from near starkness to exquisite
beauty.

The desert will not only experience a renewal unprecedented

in history but also the direct presence of God: They will see the
glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God (Isaiah 35:2c). The
plural personal pronoun they is problematic in this verse. Experts
differ widely concerning its relation to Israel. The views are:

1. The wilderness, desert, and Arabah that see the glory and

majesty of the Lord in their transformation, i.e., they see
God’s reflective glory in themselves

2. The people in the area
3. An unidentified human element
4. Israel
5. A direct reference to the wilderness, desert, and Arabah.

Does the grammar allow the first choice above? The verb,

see (r`A>),

15

uses the qal verb stem. In addition to literally seeing,

the qal can mean “to regard, perceive, feel, understand.”

16

However, the niphal, not the qal, would be necessary for
communicating a reflexive notion, “to present oneself, let oneself
see, reveal oneself.”

16

The grammar does not support nature seeing

God’s glory and majesty reflexively in itself.

The next view is that they refers to certain people. However,

no antecedent people to which this pronoun might refer exists in
the immediate context. These people must be tremendously joyful,
so it cannot be Edom, whom the Lord judges in 34:6–15. Isaiah
33:17, referring to Israel, would be viable, except for its distance
from Isaiah 35:2. The masculine pronoun refers back to the three
nouns: wilderness, desert, and Arabah.

17

15

E. Jenni and Claus Westermann, Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament

[TLOT], 3 vols., trans. Mark E. Biddle (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997),
3:1176–83.

16

William White, “r`A>,” in TWOT, 2:823.

17

Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew

Syntax (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990), 108–9, discuss this under “Priority of

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 7

Nature will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God,

just as when the pre-incarnate Christ walked in the Garden of Eden
in His glory and majesty (Genesis 3:8) Nature at that time saw
Him in His fullness and will again see Him walking in her midst.
The occasion of Genesis 3:8 was just before God cursed creation,
the time when death came upon mankind. Isaiah 35 will occur just
after the partial removal of the curse from creation. Genesis 3
brought the curse of judgment, removal from God’s direct
presence, and death. Isaiah 35 brings blessings of a renewed
nature, life, salvation, and deliverance.

The Genesis Curse (Genesis 3:14–19) affected the ground:

cursed is the ground. Curse (from the verb A*r^r) is cognate with
the Akkadian ar_ru meaning “to curse, to treat with disrespect, to
insult, to disown, disavow.”

18

The meaning is “to cover with

misfortune.”

19

It is an antonym of B*r^K, “to bless.”

19

A result of

the curse is that the abundance of undesirable plants, thorns, and
thistles drives out the fruitful plants and causes a loss of
fruitfulness. This loss of the land’s beauty reminds man of death
and the tragedy of the fall. The joy of cultivating and keeping
God’s garden turned into hard labor. The theme of the frustration
of work in Ecclesiastes may well depend upon Genesis 3:17–19.

20

The curse on nature requires working hard for sustenance.

Paul declares, the whole creation groans and suffers the

pains of childbirth together until now (Romans 8:22). The Greek
word sustenazei

21

(“groans”) means “lament or groan together

the Masculine [Grammatical Form].” In other words, Hebrew uses masculine
pronouns to refer to mixed groups of containing both masculine and feminine
forms.

18

Cf. Robert Gordon, “Arr,” in NIDOTTE, 1:525; ed. A. Leo Oppenheim,

“ar_ru,” in The Assyrian Dictionary [CAD], 21 vols., ed. Ignace J. Gelb, et al.
(Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1956–), 1.2:234.

19

C. A. Keller, “Arr,” in TLOT, 1:179–82.

20

William Anderson, “The Curse of Work in Qoheleth: An Exposé of Genesis

3:17–19 in Ecclesiastes,” EvQ 70 (April 1998): 99–113.

21

Present indicative third person singular of sustenazw.

8 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

(with).”

22

Creation longs to be free from her subjection to

oppression (Romans 8:21). The curse precludes nature from
producing overabundantly as in the Garden of Eden.

Yet, the time is coming when all things are reconciled to God

(Colossians 1:20). Then even the wilderness, desert, i.e., the
Arabah, will produce lavishly just as before the fall. Transformed
nature will experience awesome joy, gladness, and shouts of joy,
rather than the groaning and sighing under the frustration of the
curse. Nature will once again produce as before the curse. Now,
creation awaits freedom with anticipation. The Second Coming
will free nature from this bondage to flourish again as in the
Garden of Eden. New life and new hope will fill the earth. The
land will once again be a wonderful garden in beauty and in
productivity.

When the Genesis curse is partially removed,

23

then the Lord

restores Nature to pre-fall conditions (see Appendix B). Nature
then sees the glory and majesty of the Lord just as in the Garden.
Christ will walk in full majesty and glory through the Arabah,
where nature can figuratively see Him. In particular, He will walk
upon the Highway of Holiness, leading His people Israel from a
place of judgment in the wilderness unto His holy mountain
(Ezekiel 20:33–44). This full renewal of nature and Christ’s
walking through the Arabah will take place at the Second Coming
after the wilderness judgment of the Jews.

Promise of Deliverance to Men

22

W. Bauer, “sustenazei,” in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament

and Other Early Christian Literature, 3d ed. [BDAG], ed. William F. Arndt and
F. Wilbur Gingrich (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 978–79. This
verb comes from stenazw. BDAG, 942, “stenazw,” defines it as “sigh, groan
(because of an undesirable circumstance).”

23

Cf. John Walvoord, “The Person and Work of Christ: Part XIII:

Reconciliation,” BSac 120 (January–March 1963): 11; H. Wayne House, “The
Doctrine of Salvation in Colossians,” BSac 151 (July–September 1994): 334;
John Walvoord, “Doctrine of the Millennium: Part III: Social and Economic
Aspects of the Millennium,” BSac 115 (July–September 1958): 194–95.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 9

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those
with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God
will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But
He will save you” (Isaiah 35:3–4).

These verses give three commands to a certain

people

24

to

encourage, strengthen, and admonish a second group: Encourage
the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble (Isaiah 35:3). Encourage
and strengthen use a verb stem that means to “make strong,
strengthen, encourage, support, and assist.”

25

Isaiah combines it

with weak hands and feeble knees. Thus, the second group is
physically exhausted, depressed, and lacks fortitude. The Old
Testament uses strengthen often in the context of battle or
combat.

32

Actual or pending combat probably threatens the lives of

this group.

After the marvelous news about the coming transformation of

nature, those who are greatly distressed still need renewal of
courage. What is the situation of these people and who are they?
This verse encourages those whose faith is waning. It refers to both
to Sennacherib’s Assyrian threat to Judah and to end-times threats
by the Antichrist and his forces.

Isaiah commands the method for encouraging others who are

hurting and in terror of impending events. God wants them
comforted for His purposes: Say to those with anxious heart, Take
courage, fear not (Isaiah 35:4a).

The phrase anxious heart can be translated “hasty of heart.”

The verb from which anxious derives means one who acts “rashly,
hastily.” When used with the word heart, it implies “in panic, or
impetuously.”

26

This second group fearfully seeks answers

elsewhere, rather than seeking God in their time of terror. Perhaps
their time of fear caused them to question God’s ability to save

24

Perhaps these people are the 144,000 of Revelation 7.

25

Robin Wakely, “j`z^q,” in NIDOTTE, 2:63–87. Cf. “j`z^q,” in BDB,

304–5; Carl P. Weber, “j`z^q,” TWOT, 1:276–77.

26

Cf. “mhr,” in KB, 2:553–54.

10 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

them from peril. The first group admonishes the second group to
give them reason for hope.

Isaiah specifies the method for encouraging the others. This

encouragement has definitive hope behind it. God wants them to
know that He is coming, and indeed, He is here:

Behold, your God

will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He
will save you (Isaiah 35:4b).

This half of the verse is problematic syntactically. The

interpretation must consider the events in verse two, the syntax,
and the Hebrew accents.

27

The demonstrative particle Behold

(h!nn@h) focuses attention upon an unexpected event (seeing
God). The second group should derive comfort from seeing their
God: Behold your God! Nature (in verse two) and now men will
see His glory and majesty. “He is unexpectedly here! Behold Him!
See Him!” This is a literal seeing in the sense that He is physically
present. Isaiah then links vengeance is coming with the
recompense of God. It seems best, due to accentuation and the fact
that the phrase Behold your God assumes He is already here, to
take the word vengeance as nominative. Thus, the clause is best
taken as Vengeance is coming, the recompense of God, with the
phrase the recompense of God explaining vengeance.

The word vengeance is from (n*q^m) “to avenge, take

vengeance.” West Semitic attests legal connotations for this word.
Thus, it deals with the punitive retribution of God by which He
maintains His justice. He is a holy God and will pour out His wrath
against those nations and peoples who oppress His people Israel.
The word recompense (G*m^l) means “to deal fully or adequately
with, deal out to.”

28

The one who recompenses someone may

render good or evil to him. Isaiah uses the noun form (Isaiah 3:11;
59:18 [2_]; and 66:6) to refer to the evil that will befall God’s

27

Bruce K. Waltke, “The New International Version and Its Textual Principles in

the Book of Psalms,” JETS 32 (March 1989): 17–26. He stresses the importance
of accents in preserving an interpretative tradition.

28

Cf. “Gml,” BDB, 168.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 11

enemies. The recompense of God will give those who do evil
exactly what they deserve.

God will recompense His enemies for the evil they have done

or will do to His people. Yet, He will also effect salvation to His
people Israel. The word save is a hiphil jussive, so it is God’s will
to save His people even though they do not deserve deliverance.
Historically, He saved His people from the power of Assyria; in
the future, He will save them from the power of Satan. God is both
loving and just. As Sovereign, He has chosen Israel and will not
abandon her. His promises to her, including dealing with her
enemies, will come to pass for He is the omnipotent God.

Renewal of Israel

Verses one and two describe the renewal of nature. Verses

three and four speak of delivering Israel from enemies that terrify
part of the nation. As He restores nature, so He will renew Israel.

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf
will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the
tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth
in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah (Isaiah 35:5–6).

Nature’s renewal is physical. The curse on nature is a curse

on her physical welfare; thus, she needs physical, not spiritual
renewal. However, the renewal of man is both spiritual and
physical. The curse affected man spiritually by initiating spiritual
death, but it also affected man physically by bringing on physical
death. Thus, man needs first and foremost spiritual renewal. Verse
five considers the spiritual renewal of Israel whereas verse six
considers her physical renewal: Then the eyes of the blind will be
opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped (Isaiah 35:5).

Isaiah uses the adverb then (A*z) with the imperfect verb stem

of P*q^j, “to open eyes.” This adverb with the imperfect
expresses actions and events which can continue for a period of

12 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

time.

29

It points to an event immediately following the imperfect.

30

Here (as well as in Isaiah 60:5 and Micah 3:4), it speaks of a future
time with emphasis on the following event. The action is “thought
of as having taken place before the completion of the preceding
action.”

31

In other words, eyes being opened happens before being

saved.

Physical or Spiritual Healing?

Two possible interpretations of verse five exist. The opening

of eyes, i.e., the healing of the blind, may refer literally to those
lacking physical sight. Or it may describe removing the spiritual
impairment of not rightly responding to Him (due to not perceiving
God’s revelation) or of being unwilling to respond rightly to him.
Both possibilities require discussion because disagreement exists.
This verse speaks of removing spiritual blindness, and only
secondarily does it refer to physical blindness. The context of the
verse, the context of the book of Isaiah, and theological aspects
demonstrate this.

The Context of the Verse

Verse one and two speak of the physical renewal of nature by

removal of the Genesis curse. Nature is fully restored by physical
renewal; she can fully relate to God again. Nature figuratively
overflows with joy and gladness as she becomes whole again for
the first time since the curse was placed upon her. Her joy is so
complete that she figuratively breaks out in a shout of joy.

Verse three and four speak of the stronger portion of the

remnant of Israel encouraging the weaker part of the remnant
concerning the Lord appearing. This is the time when He will

29

Cf. “A`z,” ibid., 824.

30

Wilhelm Gesenius and Emil Kautzsch, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, 2d ed.,

trans. A. E. Cowley (Oxford: Clarendon, 1910), 314–15.

31

Samuel Rolles Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew and

Some Other Syntactical Questions, 3d ed. (London: Oxford University Press,
1892; reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 32.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 13

deliver them from their enemies who are about to overwhelm
them.

Verse five speaks of the opening of the eyes of the blind and

the ears of the deaf. Verse six speaks (in part) of physical healing
followed by a shout of joy (same word, different verbal form as in
verse two). Unlike nature, a right relationship between God and
Israel requires spiritual as well as physical renewal. She was meant
to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: and you shall be to
Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6).
Millennial fulfillment of this requires both spiritual renewal to
respond rightly to God and physical renewal, so she can meet the
priestly qualifications. Complete renewal will be part of the
process of He will save you. Full renewal will occur (in the sense
of reversal of the Genesis curse and the restoration of right
relationship between God and nature in verses 1–2). Verses 5–6
contextually reveal that the removal of the Genesis curse upon
Israel and spiritual and physical renewal of Israel establishes her as
a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Thus, contextually verse
five speaks of spiritual renewal and verse six of physical renewal.
This renewal will culminate in a shout of joy as in verse two.

In addition to the context of chapter 35, the context of the

book of Isaiah points to spiritual renewal in verse five. Isaiah
speaks of the divine hardening of Israel in terms of spiritual
blindness. He uses this figure of spiritually not responding to God
(either because of being unable or unwilling to do so).

Isaiah 6:9–10 speaks of a hardening that has come upon

Israel, a hardening that continues in part today and will continue
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25). This
hardening is spiritual blindness due to judicial blindness that does
not allow her to respond rightly to God. This is genuine divine
hardening, but there is militant irony in verses 9–10.

32

The many

verses in this book speaking of blindness treat it as spiritual

32

Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153

(October–December 1996): 430.

14 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

blindness. Isaiah 29:9 speaks of willfully refusing to see, and as a
consequence, becoming blind and unable to see. Isaiah 29:9–24
also discusses willful sin, divine judgment, and future reversal.

33

In

Isaiah 29:18, the people who are now blind and deaf become ones
with open ears and seeing eyes. Isaiah 32:3–4 speak of a future
messianic day when the future spiritual reversal has been
accomplished.

Isaiah 42:7 also speaks of spiritual blindness, not physical

blindness. Isaiah 56:10 and 59:10 also use spiritual blindness and
deafness as a metaphor of a negative spiritual condition. The
people bring this spiritual condition on themselves. It is a
judgment from God, which God Himself ultimately reverses in
that day of salvation. Israel’s spiritual blindness is then replaced
with clear vision during the Millennial Reign of Christ.

34

Thus, the

context of blinding/healing in Isaiah is that of spiritual blindness,
and therefore, the reference in 35:5 is to healing from spiritual
blindness.

The objection to Isaiah 35:5 discussing healing spiritual

blindness is that Jesus miraculously healed the physically blind.
Several reasons explain why the New Testament refers to such
healings. First, some instances were due to the compassion Jesus
had toward them (Matthew 21:14). Second, some were because of
the faith of others who brought the blind men to Jesus for healing
(Matthew 12:22; Mark 8:22–23). Third, the account of the healing
of the blind man in John 9 was in order to display the works of
God (John 9:3). Fourth, some accounts point to the self-revelation
of Christ as the Messiah of Israel.

Fifth, many of the healings were the result of faith by the

blind men as seen by their calling Him by the Messianic title, Son
of David (Matthew 9:27; 20:30; Mark 10:46–51; Luke 18:35).
These demonstrations of faith show that these blind men were only

33

G. D. Robinson, “The Motif of Deafness and Blindness in Isaiah 6:9–10: A

Contextual, Literary, and Theological Analysis,” Bulletin for Biblical Research
8 (1998): 178.

34

Robert L. Thomas, “The Mission of Israel and of the Messiah in the Plan of

God,” The Master’s Seminary Journal 8 (Fall 1997) 193.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 15

physically blind, not spiritually blind. Their spiritual vision in the
Messiah led to receiving physical vision. They demonstrated that
their spiritual vision exceeded that of the Pharisees, who were
indeed spiritually blind (Matthew 15:14; 23:16–26). These men
prefigured Israel in recognizing and accepting the Messiah of
Israel and were healed physically. They were blind, but their open
spiritual eyes led to healing of their physical eyes. Had Israel
recognized her Messiah at this time and had they accepted Him
and His offer of the Kingdom, spiritual and physical renewal
would have happened then. Since that did not occur, it will happen
in the future.

Isaiah 35:5 speaks of the spiritual renewal; 35:6 speaks of

physical renewal. Without spiritual renewal, there is no renewal,
just a reshaping of the old pile of dung into a different package.
The blindness of Israel will be lifted as the Sovereign Lord has
declared (Romans 11:25–27).

Physical Renewal

Verse six speaks clearly about physical renewal:

Then the lame

will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy . . .
(Isaiah 35:6a

). The curse is then removed; therefore, so are the

effects of sin, i.e., sickness and disease. Not only will Israel be
renewed spiritually but also physically. No more reminders of the
effects of the fall will remain. There will be no more suffering, no
more defects, no more sickness. Just as the lame man at the
Beautiful Gate at the Temple was healed and then leaped up,

walking and leaping and praising God (Acts 3:2–8)

, so it will be in all

Israel in the coming day when the effects of the curse are removed.

There may be an additional aspect of the removal of the

physical deformities and defects of Israel. In the Kingdom age,
Israel is a high-priestly nation in order to bless all the nations of
the earth. As a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, she will
minister before the Lord. Yet, no priest with any physical
deformity could minister before the Lord (Leviticus 21:17–21).

16 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

The spiritual or physical disqualifications for ministry of the
Mosaic Law will no longer apply.

Results of Nature’s Renewal

Verse 6b speaks about waters flowing over the wilderness

and Arabah. This will sustain the fruitfulness of the earth during
the Millennium. One of the most severe problems facing our planet
today is the lack of fresh water. There will be no lack in the day to
come: For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in
the Arabah (Isaiah 35:6b).

The Hebrew particle translated for (K') has several uses. The

NASB translates this particle as for whereas the NIV leaves it
untranslated. Actually, it is emphatic here, being strongly prefixed
to the predicate will break forth. This probable “asseverative-
emphatic force”

35

yields: Indeed or Yes, i.e., Indeed, waters will

break forth.

36

The verb will break forth means to “cleave, break

open or through split, hatch out.”

37

The Old Testament uses this

verb fifteen times with water, including Genesis 7:11. There, God
broke open the fountains of the great deep commencing the
Genesis flood. Similarly, God acts here to split open all the springs
to allow water to come up from the deep into the Arabah. The
sense is that the Sovereign Lord has decreed an abundance of
water.

Verse 7 indicates that the Arabah will become a reservoir of

water, luscious in vegetation that grows in such an area.

The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground
springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass
becomes reeds and rushes (Isaiah 35:7).

35

T. Muraoka, Emphatic Words and Structures in Biblical Hebrew (Jerusalem:

Magnes, 1985), 161.

36

Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1–39: A New Translation with Introduction and

Commentary, AB, vol. 19, ed. William Foxwell Albright and David Noel
Freedman (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 2000), 455.

37

Cf. “B`q^U,” BDB, 131; Victor P. Hamilton, “B`q^U,” NIDOTTE, 1:702.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 17

The word pool (A & g ^ m ) is an Akkadian loanword from

agammu meaning “swamp, pool.”

38

It may also be translated

“troubled pool” or “reed pool.”

39

The desert will become a place of

bountiful water. Isaiah 41:18 gives God’s direct promise for the
Millennium: I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry
land fountains of water (Isaiah 41:18).

Today Israel draws water from two main freshwater

aquifers—one under the central north-south mountain range, the
other along the coastal plain—as well as from several smaller
ones. In the future, Israel will also get abundant water from the
Arabah, the last place one might consider as a water source. Water
is vitally important not only to Israel past, present, and future but
also to the whole world. In our day, it is becoming increasingly
scarce to the world. The Sovereign Lord will ensure plentiful water
for all mankind in the Millennium. The figure shown in Appendix
A of this article (depicting the percentage of the world without
access to safe drinking water today) shows the importance of the
water problem.

A recent Scientific American article shows the acute problem

with the water supply in the near future. It says:

Today irrigation accounts for two thirds of water use worldwide
and as much as 90 percent in many developing countries. Meeting
the crop demands projected for 2025, when the planet’s population
is expected to reach eight billion, could require an additional 192
cubic miles of water—a volume nearly equivalent to the annual
flow of the Nile 10 times over. No one yet knows how to supply
that much additional water in a way that protects supplies for
future use.

Severe water scarcity presents the single biggest threat to future
f o o d p r o d u ct i o n . E v e n n o w m a n y f r e s h w a t e r
sources—underground aquifers and rivers—are stressed beyond

38

Paul V. Mankowski, Akkadian Loanwords in Biblical Hebrew, HSS, vol. 47

(Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 20.

39

Cf. “&g`m,” in BDB, 8, and “&g`m,” in KB, 1:10–11.

18 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

their limits. As much as 8 percent of food crops grows on farms
that use groundwater faster than the aquifers are replenished, and
many large rivers are so heavily diverted that they don’t reach the
sea for much of the year. As the number of urban dwellers climbs
to five billion by 2025, farmers will have to compete even more
aggressively with cities and industry for shrinking resources.

40

The expanding population in the Millennium shows that

God’s grace and sovereignty preplanned that water supply
thousands of years before the Second Coming and the Millennial
Reign of Christ. The increase in population during the Millennium
results from the partial elimination of the curse. Any deaths will
result from direct violation of God’s holiness (Zechariah 5:1–4).
To see how massive the increase in population is, let P

0

be the

population that enters into the Millennium (believers—both Jews
and Gentiles—who are alive at the Second Coming). There are
children born to these people during the Millennium. Assume that
the rate of population growth is a constant x percent per year. Let
P

y

be the population at the end of the y

th

year, then the equation for

the population at the y

th

year, P

y

is

P

y

= [1 + x/100]

(y)

P

0 .

As an example of the depth of the potential problem, assume

ten million believers enter the Millennium and that the growth rate
of the world’s population is the same as today (1.3% per year
according to the U.S. Census Bureau). Then at the end of the
Millennium the population would grow to over four trillion!
Clearly, the food supply and needs are tremendous, and the water
supply needed for crops would be staggering. But the Lord has
revealed His plan for the future, so there will be no problem. The
renewal of nature will ensure sufficient food and sufficient water
for all needs.

Results of Israel’s Renewal

40

Sandra Postel, “Growing More Food with Less Water,” Scientific American

284 (February 2001): 46–51.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 19

During the Tribulation Period, Israel will flee into the

wilderness (Revelation 12:6) where she will undergo the judgment
by the Messiah (Ezekiel 20:33–38) and spiritual/physical renewal
(Isaiah 35:5, 6). We do not know with certainty where she will
flee, but it is a “picture of desolation.”

41

Fruchtenbaum develops

the probable location to be in Mt. Seir (Matthew 24:16; Revelation
12:6, 14; Isaiah 33:13–16; Micah 2:12).

42

His preference is Petra

as it is strongly defendable.

Three nations will escape the domination of the Antichrist:

Edom, Moab, and Ammon. He will also enter the Beautiful Land,
and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his
hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon (Daniel
11:41). This is the likely area to which the Jews will flee. The
Messiah will bring Israel out of the nations into the wilderness of
the peoples (Ezekiel 20:33–38) for judgment. The location is
probably the desert to the west of Edom, Moab, and Ammon.
There are four distinct groups of Jews in the Ezekiel judgment:
apostate Jews who enter into the covenant with the Antichrist, the
144,000 Jews who will be saved and sealed after the Rapture, Jews
who accept Christ during the Tribulation period, and the faithful
remnant—those who trust in God but not necessarily in Christ.

43

A highway is then built in the wilderness, in the Arabah.

A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the
Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will
be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No
lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These
will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, and the
ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting
to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find

41

Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8–22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago:

Moody, 1995), 127.

42

Cf. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the

Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 1982), 201–4; Also
“Israelology: Part 4 of 6, Israel Future,” CTS Journal 6 (January–March 2000).

43

Idem, Footsteps, 198–99.

20 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isaiah
35:8–10).

The word highway comes from the verb s*l^l meaning “cast

up, lift up, exalt.”

44

The word highway (m^slWl), “street or

road,”

45

is possibly from the Akkadian word

sul_

“street, track.”

The Akkadian word designates “the processional street of Marduk
in Babylon.”

46

The idea is a road that is higher than the

surrounding terrain, similar perhaps to the freeways of today. This
is important, as the land will be a lake of water, so a highway must
be above ground level. This highway will be called the way of
holiness, which is in the emphatic position in the verse.

The verb call has its normal usage here of naming something,

which means to assert sovereignty over what is named.
Accordingly, the Lord reserves the highway for the redeemed to
walk on in their approach to Zion. God has sovereignly declared its
name and its purpose. The judgment of the Jews in Ezekiel
20:33–38 is then completed because this highway is for the
redeemed of the Lord. They, and only they, have access to this
highway on their return to Zion from the wilderness, where they
have been judged. Christ will lead His now holy worshipers on
their ascent to Jerusalem. David foreshadows this ascent by Christ
along the Highway of Holiness. In 1 Chronicles 15–16, David, a
type of Christ, at the lead of all Israel brought the Ark of the
Covenant from the house of Obed-Edom into Jerusalem. David,
king of Israel, wore priestly garments during this ascent. Sounds of
music and joy were heard along the way to Jerusalem. At the end
of this journey, all of Israel sang Psalm 96, which speaks of the
Millennial reign of Christ. The Ark was a reminder of God’s
personal Presence with Israel. The Millennial Temple will not have
the Ark. “The reason that the Ark of the Covenant is missing from
the future Temple is because the throne of the Lord is present. The

44

Cf. “s*l^l,” BDB, 699.

45

Cf. “m^slWl,” BDB, 700; Eugene H. Merrill, “msllh,” in NIDOTTE, 2:1004.

46

Erica Reiner, “sul_,” in CAD, 15:371. It also appears in the Moabite Mesha

stele, which commemorates the successful attempt of Mesha to free his country
from the Israelite yoke.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 21

Lord Jesus, the Righteous One, shall sit upon His throne as King
Messiah in Ezekiel’s Temple.”

47

In the Ascent to come, the

personal Presence of God, i.e., Christ, will physically travel with
Israel along the Highway of Holiness through the now luscious
land.

The apostates of Israel, who are unclean, will not walk on it,

since the Ezekiel 20 judgment already purged them. The fool

48

will

not walk on it. Only those redeemed by the Lord will walk on this
highway (35:9–10). Neither apostates nor vicious beasts (which
were a serious problem in Israel in biblical times) will appear on it.
No threat from man (such as robbers) or from beasts will remain.
No unregenerate man will be left, so Israel as a whole is spiritually
transformed and rebels are purged. Christ will have transformed
the faithful remnant and purged the unfaithful. Nature also has
been radically transformed, even releasing animals to be gentle and
under the dominion of man as in the Garden of Eden.

The word redeemed means “act as kinsman, ransom, deliver.”

This word (G+AWl?m, from the verb G*A^l) comes from the ancient
idea of the kinsman redeemer. It is the Lord who is the Redeemer
par excellence. This word “appearing here for the first of twenty-
four times in Isaiah, stresses the person of the redeemer, his
relationship to the redeemed and his intervention on their
behalf.”

49

It is He, and only He, who can redeem His people Israel,

identifying with them as their next of kin.

The ransomed of the Lord signifies the faithful remnant that

are regenerated by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Zechariah
12:10). The word ransomed is from a verb P*d> meaning

47

John W. Schmitt and J. Carl Laney, Messiah’s Coming Temple: Ezekiel’s

Prophetic Vision of the Future Temple (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1997), 150.

48

The NIV footnote at Proverbs 1:7, “The Hebrew word rendered fool in

Proverbs, and often elsewhere in the OT denote one who is morally deficient.
Such a person is lacking in sense and is generally corrupt.”

49

J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary

(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 275.

22 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

“ransom, rescue, deliver.”

50

It appears in all Semitic languages

except Aramaic. It has the basic meaning of transferring the
ownership to another through payment of a price or an equivalent
substitute. This word is parallel to G+AWl?m in verse 9. Those who
are redeemed/ransomed will return to Zion. The term return (vWb)
often refers to returning to the land. They will return to the land
with joyful shouting. The joy is again due to God’s saving acts as
in verses 2 and 6. They will find everlasting joy, a joy with their
whole disposition, as this word is associated with the heart
(Exodus 4:14; Psalms 19:8; 104:15; 105:3), the soul (Psalms
86:40), and the brightening up of the eyes (Proverbs 15:30). There
will be no more sorrow, no more anguish, and no more afflictions.
The earth will be as it was in the Garden of Eden with her rightful
King upon the promised throne.

Conclusion

Chapter 35 of Isaiah contains some of Scripture’s most direct

prophetic revelations concerning the beginning of the millennial
reign of Christ. Although there was a partial fulfillment with God’s
removal of the threat of Assyria, the prophecy cannot speak strictly
of that time. Nor can it speak strictly of the First Advent. It
contains prophecy of the removal of the curse on both nature and
men. It speaks of the salvation of Israel. It speaks of the spiritual
and physical renewal of Israel. It contains the effect of the renewal
of nature in that she will support the expanding world population
in the later part of the Millennial reign. God’s sovereignty is seen,
as He is in control of all. It tells of how the faithful remnant will
return to Zion from the wilderness, where they will have been
judged. Their return will see Christ leading them along the
Highway of Holiness into Zion as prefigured by David’s ascent to
Jerusalem with the symbol of the Presence of the Lord, the Ark of
the Covenant. This chapter speaks vividly of the Second Coming
and, in particular, of the beginning events of the Millennium. Thus,
it is of major importance to pre-millennial theology.

Appendix A

50

Hamilton, “P*d>,” 2:716.

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 23

Figure 1: Safe Drinking Water 1998

51

Appendix B

(See next page)

Its

categories derive from Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton,

IL: Victor, 1982).

51

Peter H. Gleick, The World’s Water, 1990–1999: The Biennial Report on

Freshwater Resources (Washington, DC: Island, 1998), 41.

24 CTS Journal 8 (April–June 2002)

Effect and Removal of the Curse

Effects of the Curse

Removal of the Effect @ 2

nd

Coming

On Race

Sense of guilt (Genesis 3:7)
Loss of fellowship with God
(Genesis 3:8)

Removed for believers;
Gladness and joy, not sorrow; Isaiah 35:10

•

Everlasting joy (Isaiah 51:11)

•

New Covenant provisions (Jeremiah

31:31–34)

•

Earth full of the knowledge of God

(Isaiah 11:9)

Not removed for unbelievers

On Serpent

Condemned to crawl
(Genesis 3:14)

Not removed, will still crawl in the
Millennium (Isaiah 65:25)

On Satan

Enmity between Satan’s
seed (the lost) and the
woman’s seed (the family of
God) (Genesis 3:15)

Death to Satan; bruise to
Christ

Not removed – lost will exist in millennium
(Zechariah 5:1–4; 13:2–6; Revelation
20:7–10)

Not removed – Satan lost permanently due
to Christ’s work on cross in which He was
bruised

On Eve and
Women

Pain in childbirth
(Genesis 3:16)

Women’s desire is for her
husband (to rule him)
He will dominate her

Removed – tremendous increase in birth
rate (Jeremiah 30:19–20; Ezekiel 47:22)
Birth with no pain (Isaiah 66:7)

Removed, joy and peace for believers
May not be removed for unbelievers

On Adam
and Man

Curse on ground so must
work hard for food
(Genesis 3:17–24)

Death (Genesis 3:10)

Expulsion (Genesis 3:23–24)

Dominion over creation
distorted

Removed – plentiful growth of food

•

No more weeds (Isaiah 55:13)

•

Land will increase its yield (Isaiah

30:23)

•

Deserts will bloom (Isaiah 35:1,2)

•

Plentiful water (Isaiah 30:25;

35:6b–7)

•

Desert becomes like Garden of Eden

(Isaiah 51:3)

Removed, except for certain sins of
unbelievers (Zechariah 5:1–4; 13:2–3;
Isaiah 11:6,7; 65:20,25);
No sickness (Isaiah 33:24; 29:18; 35:5,6)

Not removed but desert will be like Garden
of Eden (Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 36:35) and
man will walk in fellowship with God upon
the earth once again

Removed – even a little boy will lead the
animals (Isaiah 11:6)

—End—

Isaiah 35: Exposition and Biblical Theology 25

Bob Asher received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Aerospace
Engineering from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK. He
then studied at Dallas Theological Seminary before completing his
Master’s in Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Trinity
Southwest University, Southwest Institute of Archaeology and
Biblical History, Albuquerque, NM where he also was a Ph.D.
candidate and taught Old Testament and Semitic Languages. He
went home to be with the Lord while this article was in the editing
process.